Ginny Listen...

Disclaimer: The wonderful world of Harry Potter belongs to J K Rowling.

There were dozens, hundreds, of good reasons to do it. He knew he had to. There was absolutely no doubt about it in his mind. But the reasons weren’t good enough. She’d have an answer to all of them: He didn’t want her hurt; he didn’t want her to be a target; he couldn’t bear to lose her; he wanted her safe; he couldn’t be distracted …

That was the reason. That last one. But he couldn’t tell her that.

She made him too happy; too happy to hunt Voldemort. With her he could forget, pretend he wasn’t the One. With her the pain of losing Sirius, his parents, even Dumbledore was not as bitter. With her he was someone else. With her he just wasn’t desperate enough to get the job done.

With her there was no reason, really, to do it. Well, there was if you were looking at it sensibly, objectively. But he couldn’t do that with her. He was incapable of it. All he could do was look in her eyes, laugh with her laugh, and kiss her lips.

She made him too happy.

What sort of a person did that make him? That he would rather stuff the world and find comfort in her? He felt sick. No, he wouldn’t tell her that. Let her think he was noble, stupid, anything but that.

Without her he could do it. He would be desperate enough. Without her he could fool himself that all those other reasons were important. Without her he could look forward to something beyond, something with her. And maybe by then he would deserve it.

He pushed down the wave of nausea and took a deep breath.

‘Ginny, listen …’

A/N: The idea for this drabble, and my take on Harry’s motivation for breaking up with Ginny, came after reading the wonderful ‘Stupid, Noble Men’ by Jenadamson. Go read it now if you haven’t already. Shame on me, I haven’t even reviewed it yet! *goes immediately to leave review*

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